UNITED STATES

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday after the previous session's tepid gains, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.3 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.4 percent at 4 a.m. EDT.

New evidence that the U.S. economic recovery is slowing pushed investors to sell shares on Wednesday following a burst of bargain hunting the previous day.

The euro slipped on Wednesday but was holding not far from a seven-week high, with traders saying it could rise further in the near term due to doubts about a recovery in the U.S. economy and positive technical signals.

Strong physical buying helped pluck gold from a 6-week low on Wednesday after China said bullion would not become a major investment home for its foreign exchange reserves. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange said U.S. Treasury securities would remain an important market for the managers of China's official currency reserves, but gold would not become a major component of the central bank's portfolio.

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday as investors worried global growth was faltering, while the euro held near a 7-week high as investors pared long positions in the dollar on doubts about the resiliency of the U.S. recovery.

The euro dipped on Wednesday but was still hovering near a recent seven-week high, with traders saying it could rise further in the near term due to doubts about a recovery in the U.S. economy and positive technical signals.

The U.S. Treasury Department is expected to again decline to name China a currency manipulator in a long-delayed report that will likely anger congressional critics of Beijing's policies. The report was due April 15 but was delayed until after last month's G20 leaders' summit in Canada. China said just before the G20 met that it will make the yuan's exchange rate more flexible gradually and end a two-year peg to the dollar.

Gold prices rebounded in Asian trade Wednesday after bargain buying strengthened its appeal amid euro recovery as it rose to near seven-week highs. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1193.01 an ounce at 12.00 noon Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for August delivery was at $1,193.8 an ounce.

Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday as investors worried global growth was faltering, while the euro hovered near a 7-week high as investors shunned long positions in the dollar.

Borders Group Inc launched its long awaited electronic bookstore on Wednesday, along with applications for the store on several leading smartphones in a bid to catch up to rival booksellers and generate sales in the fast growing e-book segment.

Samsung Electronics , the world's No.1 memory chip maker, is set to see slower growth in the second-half as the euro zone crisis weakens demand for flat screens and chip prices are likely to ease.

U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp is planning to cut a small number of jobs as early as this week, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Borders Group Inc's electronic bookstore went live on Wednesday and the head of its bookselling business predicted that it would quickly catch up with rivals and win a piece of the fast growing e-books sector.

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday as investors worried global growth was faltering, while the euro held near a 7-week high as investors pared long positions in the dollar on doubts about the resiliency of the U.S. recovery.

Samsung Electronics, the world's No.1 memory chip maker, said it was on course to report a record quarterly profit, powered by robust sales of memory chips and flat screens in a strong consumer electronics market.

The Australian Dollar has opened higher this morning above 0.8500 and this is pretty much on the back of yesterday's no change in Australia's Official Cash rate and the release of the Australian Trade Balance data for May.

Drilling of a relief well to halt the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a week ahead of schedule, the U.S. official overseeing the response to the disaster said on Tuesday.

Alan Krueger can wax poetic about data -- literally.

Former IBM Corp executive Robert Moffat, who admitted to charges of insider trading in the Galleon hedge fund probe, told Fortune magazine that his affair with co-defendant Danielle Chiesi was more about business than sex.

Lockheed Martin Corp , the world's biggest defense contractor, said on Tuesday it is offering early exit incentive packages to its directors and vice presidents to cut costs as growth in U.S. defense spending slows.

The U.S. service sector expanded in June for a sixth straight month but growth was at the slowest pace since February, the latest evidence that the economic recovery is cooling.